Ramblings of a woman "up north" trying to live a more thoughtful, considered, frugal life - to reduce my debt, to create some savings (both financial and of the planet). To reduce the stresses that seem to be inherant with the modern consumerist age. In a nut shell.... stop the bus I want to get off !!

Sunday, 11 March 2012

The Reward of Conserving Energy

I don’t watch too closely how much energy we use in our home, like many areas of my life huge improvements could be made, however I have tried consciously to use less.It has also helped that we have had a relatively mild winter in comparison to the Siberian winters we have seen over the past few years.

I used to however keep the heating on during winter pretty much constantly, now I put on a jumper or jump into bed early with a book to prevent keeping the heating on.This winter I just put the heating on to take the chill off the house and then switched it off early as I did jobs around the house to keep myself busy and relatively warm, all ploys to try and use less.

I pay my electricity and gas bills by monthly direct debit, there is always a risk with this in that you may be under or over paying, but I need to know and budget for a fixed amount whilst I financially manage myself out of debt.

My joint fuel bill (gas and elec) for the past 12 months has been £119 per month and with the ever increasing fuel prices I was expecting this to increase.I religiously input my meter readings each month via my on-line account with Scottish Power and doing so tonight the marvelous computer has now reduced my monthly direct debit to £79 per month to prevent accumulating credit.The extra £40 per month will help ease the ever increasing petrol prices, when I bought my car 5 years ago the cost to fill the tank was £35 it is now £60, during that 5 year period I have had a pay freeze, so in real terms a pay cut year on year, this extra £40 will certainly help ease the increase in the cost of the daily commute.

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In 1838 the first stone of our Church was laid and the Church was opened on 1st August 1839.
2014 we will be celebrating our 175th Anniversary. This blog will detail our journey in creating a year of events which will not only celebrate in true Lancastrian style, but also leave a lasting legacy for future generations.
Please comment, add your thoughts, ideas and ramblings. Come and share this journey with us